Years 5 and 6 were treated to a visit from Jo Cotterill, who wrote 'A Library of Lemons' which is on this year's Tower Hamlets Book Award shortlist. Jo showed us an example of a charming little story she wrote as a child, complete with misspellings, all about the festival of "Chismas" (Christmas!)
Together we went on to create a story of our own, using Jo's method of imagining 'What if....?'
Our story imagined a land where no one lived beyond the age of 10, where a blue sun shone, and the evil Queen Midnight ruled the land from a tower, controlling everything with a magic crystal. Our hero was a boy called Rayu, who had the magical power of summoning unicorns from Mars! With the help of ninja bunnies, and the unicorns from Mars, he defeated the tyrant and her evil dalmatians. It turned out that she couldn't stand the colour pink! After slaying her with the magical pink sword, and coating her tower in candy floss, the crystal was shattered, and everyone was able to live beyond ten years.
We had plenty of material for a sequel too, not least the surprise twists that Queen Midnight was Rayu's stepmother, and that he had a twin!
Jo read from 'A Library of Lemons' and her 'Electrigirl' series, and she asked us to think about the difference between sympathy and empathy, and how a writer wants a reader to feel what the characters are feeling.
A bookstall was provided by Brick Lane Bookshop, which meant that some lucky members of the audience were able to get their own copies of Jo's books, and have them signed by her.
Together we went on to create a story of our own, using Jo's method of imagining 'What if....?'
Our story imagined a land where no one lived beyond the age of 10, where a blue sun shone, and the evil Queen Midnight ruled the land from a tower, controlling everything with a magic crystal. Our hero was a boy called Rayu, who had the magical power of summoning unicorns from Mars! With the help of ninja bunnies, and the unicorns from Mars, he defeated the tyrant and her evil dalmatians. It turned out that she couldn't stand the colour pink! After slaying her with the magical pink sword, and coating her tower in candy floss, the crystal was shattered, and everyone was able to live beyond ten years.
We had plenty of material for a sequel too, not least the surprise twists that Queen Midnight was Rayu's stepmother, and that he had a twin!
Jo read from 'A Library of Lemons' and her 'Electrigirl' series, and she asked us to think about the difference between sympathy and empathy, and how a writer wants a reader to feel what the characters are feeling.
A bookstall was provided by Brick Lane Bookshop, which meant that some lucky members of the audience were able to get their own copies of Jo's books, and have them signed by her.